The African penguin Spheniscus demersus is the only penguin species that breeds on the African continent and is endemic to the southern African coast. The species has declined from an estimated 0.5-1 million breeding pairs in the early 1900s to the approximately 42 500 counted in 1991, and 8324 in 2023. The remaining birds are mostly found in just seven colonies in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. Several factors have contributed to their population decline. Initially, a key reason was habitat destruction through guano harvesting as well as egg collection. However, over the last few decades, a shortage of small pelagic fish species, the penguins' main food source, seems to have been the main contributing factor. Increased vessel traffic and the resulting noise pollution has also contributed to the decline. This study aimed to provide an assessment of the value of the African penguin in South Africa to inform decision-makers at all levels of government, conservation organisations and other stakeholders involved in decision making around African penguins. The study investigated the experiential benefits of the penguins as manifest in tourism, property, media and educational values, as well as the existence value of African penguins, as manifest in public willingness to pay. In particular, it focused on the quantification of tourism and existence value. The study also investigated the potential reputational risk of failing to adequately conserve African penguins. The study was based on information from existing published and unpublished sources, statistics provided by relevant conservation authorities, conversations with key informants, and surveys conducted among penguin visitors and among the general public in Cape Town. While determining the economic value of penguin conservation is useful to inform policy decisions, it needs to be acknowledged that it represents one way to think about conservation. Besides economic arguments for threatened species conservation, arguments for species protection can also be made for moral reasons as well as due to South Africa's international commitments under the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity to halt all species extinctions.